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Chapter 307
Set up (仕掛け Shikake) is the 307th chapter of manga, Baby Steps. Characters in Order of Appearance *Eiichiro Maruo *Shin Asano Summary Asano uses different patterns in order for Eiichiro not to be able to read easily his attacks. Still Eiichiro manages to cope in the changes and wins the first set. Synopsis With the second serve, Asano goes to the net. Ei-chan also goes forward and he identifies the open area if Asano leverages his technique. So Ei-chan makes for the center, so that he's ready to jump regardless of the direction of the ball, and from there he can only rely on his own reaction. He sees the angle of Asano's racket and leaps to the right. He doesn't reach the ball, but it's out: 30-40, bringing Ei-chan to set point. Asano thinks he'd been aiming too hard, guarding against the excellence of Ei-chan's reaction, but concludes it couldn't be helped because if he'd been any weaker, Ei-chan would have been able to return the ball. He thinks until he came forward on his second serve, he'd appraised Ei-chan's unpreparedness. He'd had the lead in tactics, but with Ei-chan's reaction to the angle volley, in one stroke the gap had been reduced. He concludes that Ei-chan is taking in all the factors in Asano's tactics: speed, power, reaction... apparent corollary to that is, he has to keep using tactics that Ei-chan has seen and is therefore unprepared for. Ei-chan thinks he forced an error at an important point. He considers what to expect for Asano's next serve. If he thinks about it normally, the most frequently used and the one with the highest probability is a slice wide...but because Asano has been using serve and volley in this game, there's also a spin wide that can create a more advantageous posture. Either way it's likely to be wide, but he doesn't know what Asano will do. Asano's serve is a slice wide. But this time Asano's not doing serve and volley, so Ei-chan wonders what's coming. Ei-chan first thinks Asano's return is a flat, but corrects himself: it's a slice. Asano thinks Ei-chan coped precisely with the flat-looking slice that Asano hasn't shown him up to now, that even though Ei-chan's leading, there's no slip in his defense, so he's able to react to whatever tactic. Ei-chan's decided to set up to handle whatever comes at him since he doesn't know what's coming, and then steal the advantage at some point. Asano's return is a bouncing spin that's deep in order to make Ei-chan move back. As Ei-chan expected, Asano goes to the net. Ei-chan hits a slice lob. He thinks it will escape, but since a slice ball is slow, Asano will be able to return it. The ball lands just inside of the line. Asano catches up to it, but sees Ei-chan's now stationed at the net, a reversal of the previous situation. So Asano tries to send the ball to Ei-chan's feet, but it hits the net. Ei-chan wins the first set: 6-4. Asano concludes he was beaten...even though he'd freely developed the tactics he could do. HE realizes that the essence of Ei-chan's strength is his ability to cope. The true character of which is his instantaneous reaction and the brains to comprehend the whole match. Furthermore, his technique with his control and general mastery of all sorts of shots...and the minimum power, speed, stamina to be able to compete here (the prelims)... "New Technical Tennis" is the meaning of the tennis he'd imagined. Being in the process of gaining competitive tennis using original techniques. In addition to that, taking a high school student... some reason, I'm getting the feeling Asano decided to pass on the mantle for "new technical tennis" to Ei-chan at this point, and the rest will be just testing Ei-chan. The second set starts with Ei-chan's serve. Since he hasn't dropped as serve, he decides to deploy change of pace just as powerfully. He starts attacking more quickly that Asano. He thinks there are too many variations to Asano's slices, so it's impossible to predict. Asano thinks, "If you're talking of going out into the world with that tennis, show me you'll overcome any strategy of mine!" Ei-chan thinks Asano easily hits an extremely difficult shot and it goes in reliably. After Ei-chan returns it, he's surprised to see Asano had switched around to hit it with his backhand. Asano puts away the ball with a fast spin. Ei-chan realizes it's a new attack pattern: Asano is unleashing strategies he hasn't shown up to now as most effective response to the situation. Ei-chan wonders how much time it had taken Asano to acquire so many patterns of tactics and techniques. He reminds himself he'd taken the first set from Asano by using his own tennis. Then he thinks he'll defeat Asano by using his own tennis. Navigation Category:Volume 32 Category:All-Japan Championship Preliminaries Arc